As long time WFNX middayer Julie Kramer put it Friday evening while being interviewed by Neal Robert, this has been “an incredibly long funeral.” It has. Since around May 15th. And nine weeks later Robert signed off with the first song ‘FNX ever aired, The Cure‘s “Let’s Go To Bed.”
And poof! WFNX is gone. Much of the affected and current staff was snapped up by www.Boston.com to start a local radio station that complements Boston.com and its lifestyle. How much will we miss ‘FNX? While it had a poor signal and rarely got any great ratings, that didn’t get in the way of it doing great radio, taking tons of music and programming chances and constantly tweaking the competition behind the scenes. It got a lot of attention for its part in breaking Nirvana and Green Day specifically. However, they were more than that championing local music and arts, creating a local show for the gay and lesbian community with One In Ten, and generally giving a career to “music lovers and misfits” as Roberts said when he signed off. While we can get alternative music pretty much anywhere, WFNX defined a community, a pioneering spirit and a vibe for most all of it near thirty years. And that may be difficult to duplicate again on the FM dial. However, we’ve been able to learn from other late, great stations like ‘FNX, WDRE, WOXY and others and hopefully can instill some of those practices at your station as well as building upon what you’ve already created.
Roberts hosted the last several hours Friday evening, of which the last hour contained interviews with Kramer (who said she gave away “more stuff than Santa Claus” during her tenure) and local comedian Tony V. Roberts handled the last hour with class and dignity, thanking many who touched and affected him during his long tenure at ‘FNX, including Mad Max Tolkoff, everyone associated with One In Ten, the Phoenix contributors, the bands, the sponsors especially Newbury Comics (who sponsored the last day allowing for no commercials all day), record people for “keeping us in free shrimp”, and especially owner Stephen Mindich who “employed us music lovers and misfits”
Roberts then quoted philosopher Nietzsche who said, “without music, life would be a mistake” and then told Boston, “let’s put it to bed the way it started with The Cure “Let’s Go To Bed”….see ya, bye”
After “Let’s Go To Bed” played, there was approximately 101 seconds of dead-air and an era ended.
The Boston Phoenix released a WFNX time line last week that highlights its history—thephoenix.com/Boston/music/141518-listening-to-wfnx-1983-2012/?page=1#TOPCONTENT
Here’s the last hour of tunes on WFNX:
English Beat I Confess
Red Hot Chili Peppers Give It Away
Jeff Buckley Last Goodbye
Frank Black Los Angeles
New Order Blue Monday
Filter Hey Man Nice Shot
Folk Implosion Natural One
Silversun Pickups Lazy Eye
Human Sexual Response What Does Sex Mean To Me
Lemonheads It’s A Shame About Ray
Nirvana Molly’s Lips
O Positive Talk About Love
Offspring Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)
PJ Harvey Down By The Water
Pixies Gigantic
Patti Smith Gloria
David Bowie Changes
The Cure Let’s Go To Bed
WFNX listeners, where will you go for your radio fix now? Join the conversation here
